Alfredo Arias has already won titles in Uruguay and Ecuador, but in Colombia it is the first time he has been in that instance. The coach analyzed the final between Independiente Medellín, his team, and Junior de Barranquilla, which will begin in the latter city this Sunday at 4 pm
What it means to reach the final. “It means, the truth is, first of all, to be proud, to try to honor this privilege that life gives us. After the effort of the players, of everything they have given, the first thing is to be grateful.”
The process to reach the final. “Today the game and how it is lived in all parts of the world does not allow time to adapt or do things from scratch. When we arrived at Independiente Medellín we talked about building on what was built, by someone that I appreciate very much and that I had as a player like David González. With that and the conviction of the players from the first day we had a good championship, the player must feel that. In the home runs we did better, my players did better. We had a synchronicity in what we have and in what we “They can give, but none of that would be possible if we had started from scratch.”
Schedule. “I touched it at the moment when it could be touched, it could be reversed. It couldn’t be done and that’s it. We are going to do it well, my players are going to do it well.”
The first final in Colombia. “In other countries we had a little more luck and were champions, but also in Uruguay we lost a final. This year we won a championship with Peñarol, the Apertura, and before in Ecuador, in Uruguay too. This is a journey that when you start it You need a first step and then take the next one well, and to reach the destination you also need the last steps, we hope to take them well, to be consistent with what we have done. We have tried to respect our rival and our own humility and that is not something we are afraid of. They are going to serve. We respect Junior, a great team. We all know that when Junior focuses on a player, he is the one who has stood out the most, he has the best in the country. Respect is there and humility is also there. The important thing is what what they can expect from the team, the players expect those who have brought us here, not Arias.”
Full stadium. “The first thing he tells me, that all the tickets were sold, makes me happy, seeing a stadium full, with people full of enthusiasm like ours will have in the second final. We hope to be up to the task, to honor the spectacle There is no better way than to go out and win the game. I hope all the seats, I hope all the games sell out and not just those for the final. If a team has the support as if it were the final, it will surely perform better, and “It goes for everyone, the Junior fans and the Medellín fans. The fan does not have to be convinced with words, but with actions.”
The favorite. “I have learned that you should not give favorites. That job corresponds to those who are outside the competition, journalists, fans, and that is fine. We, who are there, would be a mistake to mark a favorite, in this final, in this game and in any game. What we try is to play well and win a game. We will try.”
What did you find from the previous technician and what did you add. “The first thing I found was a very good team. What could I add to it? That we could compete well, go to all the fields to play well, to win.”
What worries you about Junior? “There is nothing that worries me the most, I am worried about everything. They are a very good team, they arrived on their own merits, they have a great offensive capacity and to do that they have to defend well. I am worried about everything until the game starts.”
What he learned from his steps through Santa Fe and Cali. “I think that the key, if you have to put a key, is to put what the players have done, and if I add to that that I ignore less what I did not know when I arrived the first time in Colombia, starting from the basis that we all learn when we lose , we learn a lot because our work is judged and we are left without a job when we fail. Many people make a mistake and are not judged. This profession is blessed for me, I had to be a player and now a coach, and it exposes us to that, one learns every “every time you lose something or fail at something. Not having reached the finals with Santa Fe and Cali taught me a lesson.”
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